


Long Time Coming

by autopsyofwebs



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Ableist Language, M/M, Slight Power Play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-12
Updated: 2013-07-12
Packaged: 2017-12-19 06:06:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/880316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autopsyofwebs/pseuds/autopsyofwebs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Where Ryan makes the initial change from rooster teeth web designer to achievement hunter and tries to figure out where he belongs in all this madness. Also Gavin might have a small crush on him but that’s insubstantial really.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Long Time Coming

**Author's Note:**

> Really this is a pretty Ryan-centric fic that focuses more on friendship and some ryvin because those two really fascinate me. I mean I’d love it if this were super smutty and one of the things I love most about Ryan/Gavin is how interesting their dynamic is (well friendship and relationship wise) but I suck at smut so I’m just gonna go for friendship and a hint of something more. But if someone else wants to? (please, if there was anything to be learned from the vs. it’s that we need more dom! ryan)
> 
> ALSO, of course, this is in no way real and in this fic, Ryan isn’t married and has no kid (mainly because I have no idea if they’re ok with being included in shipping, so for this purpose, they just don’t exist)
> 
> warning: ableist language (twice I think)

“Hey assholes, this is Ryan. Ryan, this is everyone.”

Geoff pushes him towards the couch, leaving him with a handful of cables and a computer to figure out by himself. Geoff settles in his seat, seemingly content with having done his part of the job. Ryan glances around while the rest respond with vaguely attentive greetings. It’s not that they don’t care, but they know Ryan, so this isn’t so much of an official introduction as it is a ceremonial one, one that signifies Ryan’s slow withdrawal from web design into achievement hunter.

Jack, the only one not fiddling with his controls, smiles at him, and noting his full hands, shows him how to set up next to Caleb. Ryan smiles, grateful.

He turns around and starts setting up. _No need to be nervous_ , he thinks, _right_. He’s 32 years old and he's got a college degree; he can handle a group of guys that can't even figure out a PC right? It’s not like these guys are strangers either; he’s done a few videos for them and with them. But it’s the first time with everyone from achievement hunter and in minecraft, something that’s become a fixed routine for them.

His heart is still beating a little fast, so he stays silent and observes the first few minutes of the let’s play. It’s calm, mostly everyone goofing off and getting used to each other and the roles that they’ve created. He feels a little apprehensive, seeing the easy camaraderie between Michael and Gavin, Jack’s voice a calm undertone and Geoff’s laugh loud and clear over Ray’s joke. He’s seen their videos, and as stupid as they get sometimes, they’ve got their humor and group dynamic down to a science. He really doesn’t want to be the newbie screwing that up (and it’s an odd thought because he’s worked here longer than Ray has, but he hasn’t ever worked _here_ so he’s at a distinct disadvantage).

He breaks his relative silence a few minutes in, letting a comment slip out of his mouth without thought, and is slightly startled to hear Geoff and Jack laugh at it. Halfway through, he’s not quite so tense anymore because it turns out, unsurprisingly really, that these guys are just a bunch of idiots. Funny and loud and a little intimidating, but idiots nonetheless. At the end, Michael murders him with a shout of “MOGAR” that garners everyone’s laughter, including his own, and he thinks, _yeah I could get used to this_.

Of course, one let’s play isn’t enough to force him out of his observant role, but he keeps playing and joins Gavin and Geoff on some of the let’s builds. Eventually, he realizes that he’s unwittingly found a spot there. Soon the addition of Edgar in kung fu house is a thing for him, like roses is for Ray and Mogar is for Michael. It's a strange feeling, but he feels _satisfied_ , more like a permanent addition now rather than a random web designer joining in for a few games.

-

In the beginning, Jack is the easiest to get along with. He gets frustrated easily, but it’s nice talking to him, and they’re instantly bonded in a sense over their voice and the initial teasing they get from the rest of the office and the fans. It’s taught Ryan a few things - how to grow a thick skin, what it feels like to be at the whim of a fickle audience, but he’s grown into that a little bit too, has learned to turn careless words into jokes around these guys. So it’s easy to play off of that during the let’s plays and right away, he knows what’s expected of him and it’s reassuring. It’s a sense of security during an unstable trial period, and he’s comfortable around Jack. He’s a great guy, easy-going and nice, and it reminds him of the simplicity of childhood friends.

His friendship with Geoff, while not the most expected of friendships, is probably the one he’s closest to. Geoff’s the one that hired him, the one he feels he can talk to because they’re the oldest out of the group. The rest are all seemingly fresh-faced and so young sometimes it’s disconcerting.

He’s reminded of after-school cigarettes and beers behind the bleachers, a sense of quiet rebellion around Geoff, even though he himself is a bred and raised Georgia boy. Geoff laughs like a hyena and while he’s a bit crude at times, he’s funny and a good father and surprisingly kind; he’s the one that really brought him into achievement hunter, gave him a place in the gents. They work well together, Geoff finding amusement from his humor rather than confusion, and it’s good (he feels like Geoff doesn’t expect anything that he can’t already bring, which is freeing on its own).

-

With the lads, it’s a bit harder. Mainly in the sense that he can’t fucking figure out where he belongs with them. They’re younger, not extremely so, but enough where there’s an obvious barrier. Half the time, Ray’s comments go straight over his head and they all just seem so different, with nil attention span and energy and all. Ryan’s the kind of guy who’s more comfortable sitting back and observing first than running headfirst into the fray. He feels more relaxed around the gents because they’re like the friends he used to make during school, easy conversations and funny banter. The lads are tactile and close and friendly with each other in a way that rose his eyebrows at first. Now, it only endears them to him, but he’s still uneasy as to where _he_ stands with them.

Michael is actually the easiest to get along with, because despite all the yelling and the jokes around the office about rage quit, Michael is loud and effervescent outside of work. It’s easy to know where he is with Michael because Michael’s open in a way that speaks of confidence and not arrogance, sure of the spot that he’s built up and carved around him.

Ryan both admires and envies him for that at first, until one day, Michael pulls him aside and tells him how he first started.

“I was a fucking recluse at first. I mean, I used to just send in my rage quit videos to the office and that was it. It wasn’t until I met Ray and Fragger that I got my shit together and became a part of this.”

At the last word, he nods his head at the office around him, almost as if it’s too large of a concept to be conveyed in words. Michael’s leaning against his desk and Ryan’s sat on his designated seat on the couch while everyone’s gone off to lunch. Michael, despite being seven years younger than him, has a steady gaze that belies his years.

“Well, I’ve been here a little longer so I guess I’ve got a head start,” Ryan replies, a bit slowly because he’s not sure if this is a misguided attempt at comfort and he follows it up with a quizzical smile.

“You don’t have to be so wary around us is what I’m trying to say,” Michael says and his statement would be out-of-place except he knows Michael somewhat by now, three months in, and Michael can be vicious with his anger, but also comforting with his awareness.

“It’s fucking hard to trust and work with a bunch of people you didn’t know up until a few months ago, I know, but we’re not assholes. Well, not all of us,” and Michael grins here, as if trying to diffuse some of the awkwardness, “but it’s been nice having you. You’re fucking weird of course, but it works somehow with the rest of us.”

Ryan doesn’t know how to really respond, still caught somewhere between gratitude and uneasiness and somehow, as if sensing this, Geoff and Gavin come through the door, a red bull clutched in Gavin’s hand. Geoff greets him with an eyebrow raise and Jack comes in afterwards with a smile.

He works the rest of the day, confused and slow and oddly content.

-

Ray, out of everyone, is probably the least like him. He’s everything Ryan’s not, but Ray tends to open up around new people, not necessarily confident, but easy-going enough with ridiculous jokes and statements that make conversation natural. Thus, the “r and r connection” is born and while it’s still a little weird sometimes when Ray makes a reference to some TV show or meme, Ray’s probably the most out-going person bar Michael, so it’s not hard to become friends.

Gavin though, is a bit of an outlier. It’s odd because he’s sort of gained his footing with everyone else in the office by now, knows where he fits with them, but with Gavin, it seems … awkward sometimes. He knows that Gavin is strange, has seen it firsthand, but given his reputation, that should work with him. Nothing’s wrong per say, but it’s not effortless like it is with the rest of the office. Sometimes he catches Gavin staring at him, his head tilted down like he doesn’t know what to make of him, but whenever Ryan turns to say something, Gavin just swivels away back into inconspicuousness.

Even as time goes on, he and Gavin don’t really bond. There’s always the barrier of Geoff in the let’s builds and the rest of the lads in the let’s plays. But it’s weird because he’s bonded with all the other guys just fine during the let’s plays, but Gavin, an open book of childish scribbles of dicks and cameras to everyone else, remains a closed book to him.

(He remembers one conversation in particular still, probably because at that point, it was the most words Gavin had spoken to him all at once:

“So you’re that kinda guy huh?” Gavin says to him once, during a “things to do” video.

“Um, what?” he responds, surprised and to be honest, a little worried. He really hopes he hasn’t offended somebody already.

“No, just - I thought you were a quiet guy, but you just like hanging back and getting a feel for things first,” Gavin says, his eyes still glued to the monitor.

He doesn’t answer because he doesn’t know how. It seems too honest of an observation to pass off as a joke, but thankfully Gavin just leaves it at that and they continue playing. They’re silent bar a few comments here and there for the rest of the game.)

This conversation ends up running through his mind more than once. Mainly, he’s surprised that Gavin even noticed because for someone who hates looking at himself in the mirror, Gavin’s pretty self-absorbed most of the time, and it just adds to the list of things about Gavin Free that he can’t figure out.

-

The vibrations prank both opens and closes a few doors between them. First of all, it definitely seems to cement his place in achievement hunter as the “mad genius” and he gets both more respect and more teasing directed toward him for it (but in a good way, as odd as that sounds to him, because he feels like part of the group now, like a Gavin Free pranking is the initiation into the office). The prank was fun and challenging in a way that comes easy to him, and Gavin was a perfect test subject because he’s relatively willing to have anything done to him when a camera and an audience are involved. So overall, nothing should really change after it between them.

Except for how it does. It’s so minute that he doesn’t notice it until it’s already become commonplace, but Gavin, instead of shying away or leaving Ryan relatively alone, begins to slowly interact with him more and more. Not anything to the level of Michael or even Ray, but definitely little comments to him now and then that weren’t there before, that draw him into the conversation when he sees no opening for himself.

But even then, Gavin remains as inscrutable as ever – the only difference now is that he stares more, his gaze almost sticky at times, but whenever Ryan looks up, all he sees is the back of his messy hair.

-

One Friday, after recording a particularly long let’s play, the office seems to collectively decide to get smashed at the local bar. As close as even the lads are, they’re all going on extended vacations from work and each other pretty soon, and this is something like a last hurrah before a big break. It ends up being more Geoff and Gavin inviting everyone else along for their pre-weekend bender and he’s unsure for just a moment, old insecurities surfacing up, if that includes him, before Michael’s swinging an arm around his neck and shouting,

“Hey Haywood, get a fucking move on.”

“Yeah, come watch us be drunk dickwads, it’ll be fun. And besides, you haven’t undergone the formal initiation into achievement hunter of drinking with us. Well excluding Ray and Shannon,” Geoff affects a high voice at the last part and the rest of the office bursts into laughter.

Jack rolls his eyes and gives him a smile as Geoff claps him on the back. Gavin has a slightly uncomfortable grin that softens into one of reassurance when he glances over.

“Yeah I don’t think I’m going to live long enough to be initiated if I end up going with you guys,” Ryan responds dryly.

Ten minutes later though, they’re all piled in their respective cars and heading off.

-

For all the talk of getting smashed, he, Ray, and Jack remain relatively sober. Geoff and Gavin regularly go out to bars on their own, usually with Griffon, and Michael and Gavin have their weekly bev appointment by the pool with Lindsay so they’re all old hat at this. But it’s rare to have everyone at achievement hunter all together outside of work and it makes him feel nice, like he’s a part of something special. He keeps decent conversation with a slightly tipsy Jack and trades witticisms with Ray until Geoff gets a call from Griffon, where she’s apparently locked out of their house.

Geoff sighs and draws out a regretful, or as regretful as Geoff ever gets, grin.

“Well that’s it for me lads, I’m heading out.”

Geoff's still way too drunk to drive so Ray agrees to drive him out, as he hasn't drunk anything and is pretty much done for the night too.

Geoff gestures towards Gavin, but he’s too busy talking to Michael, who, after muffling Gavin’s mouth with his hand, tells Geoff that either he or Jack will take him home later. Geoff shrugs and after a few false-alarms of almost puking, he and Ray leave.

About an hour later, the rest of the guys are done too. Michael, by this point, is drunk as hell and vaguely giggly, exchanging whispers with Gavin. Jack offers to take both Michael and Gavin home, but Ryan’s sober enough to drive so they decide that Jack’ll take Michael and Ryan’ll take Gavin.

-

Gavin, despite being thin as fuck, is lanky and tall and while Ryan is still taller, it makes supporting him across the parking lot to his car a hell of a trip. His feet drag and Gavin presses his face into Ryan’s neck, his breath coming out in hot bursts against his skin. Ryan suppresses a shudder and then shakes himself, wondering if maybe his one beer was a little too much. _Shit, I’m fucking 32_ , he thinks, _and I can’t even handle a couple of beers anymore_.

Gavin physically drags him out of his thoughts as he sags against him. He winds his arms around Ryan’s neck to keep from slumping to the ground, burrowing deeper into his skin. He’s mumbling something, but it’s too soft and muffled for Ryan to hear anything (and he’s a little distracted because Gavin’s mouth is surprisingly soft, something he wouldn’t expect from someone who runs their mouth off as often as Gavin does).

Ryan finally reaches his car, having to heave Gavin up a little by his hips when he sags against him. He feels a faint tremor go through Gavin and checks to see if maybe he’s finally going to throw up, like Ryan’s been dreading since he’s led him out of the bar.

But Gavin’s head is lolled on Ryan’s shoulder, and his eyes are lidded. He’d think that they were drunk eyes, but then Gavin licks his lips and shuffles closer to his face, too slow for it to be an accident and still too fast for Ryan to fully comprehend the situation until Gavin’s damp lips touch his.

It’s a bit awkward at first, the press of their mouths too soft with shock and nerves fortified with alcohol. But then Ryan tangles a hand in the back of Gavin’s hair and tilts his head up, slotting their lips together while his other arm winds around Gavin’s waist to pull him flush against him. He turns them around, pressing Gavin against the car door so he can press deeper, his tongue running across the swell of Gavin’s bottom lip.

After a second Ryan pulls away, rationale pushing its way to the forefront. Shaking his head, he tries to clear his thoughts under the heavy flush of his body, but Gavin follows him, having grown bolder with the returned kiss. His arms are still clutched around his neck, and this close, Ryan can feel the scratch of Gavin’s stubble, the breathless moan that escapes when Ryan clutches his hip too hard.

He feels light-headed and a little confused and way too fucking old to be making out in a half-full parking lot outside of a bar, so he pulls the handle behind Gavin, pushing them both into the backseat of his car. Gavin releases a huff, but Ryan’s quick enough where he balances on top of Gavin, both hands near the sides of his head. Gavin gives him a dopey grin, softened in the dim light and infinitely sweeter than anything he’s ever seen from him before.

Ryan reaches around to close the door and the silence is compounded, only the sound of soft breaths and shifting bodies filling the car.

Gavin places his hands on Ryan’s shoulders and runs them down his arms.

He blinks at him slowly and breathes out, “your damn arms and your bloody chest were driving me crazy in there,” in a slightly slurred voice, like a confession. But it sounds too intimate here, the dark hiding Gavin’s expression and the alcohol muffling the emotion Ryan can’t quite place in his voice.

Ryan wants to make a joke out of it (he’s a little out of his element right now), but Gavin distracts him, reaching up to kiss him again and trailing his fingers down his chest and stomach to his jeans, trying to unbutton them.

But this, Ryan knows, is dangerous territory; he’s dizzy himself, not from alcohol, but from the proximity of Gavin. But he’s seen Gavin drinking all night, knows his clumsiness is probably 50% him, but also 50% whiskey, so Ryan pulls away. He takes Gavin’s hands in one hand and pulls them over his head to keep his wandering hands down. The other is balanced next to Gavin’s head still, and he’s never thought of Gavin as particularly small, but he feels like he could swallow him up, the blood in his ears a rushing pulse that brings him closer and closer to the edge.

Gavin is still muttering all this while, squirming from nerves and arousal. But he grows quiet when Ryan pulls his arms up, going rigid briefly before he unfolds under his hands, tension seeping out of his body. He shifts a little, as if to test the hold, but makes no move to break out of it. Ryan notices this even through the fog in his mind, filing this piece of information away, but not doing anything more with it.

Gavin opens his eyes and arches his back a little, almost like a challenge. He licks his lips and shifts so his neck is a tender stretch of skin (and why Ryan wants to mark it so it's flushed red with hickeys and reminders that Gavin is _his,_ he doesn't quite know, only that the temptation is a lot stronger than he'd thought). Ryan feels his pants tighten even more, Gavin laid out underneath him like a prize he didn’t even know he had won till now.

But he can’t, not now. He repeats this like a mantra in his head because the feeling of Gavin beneath him alone, his wrists delicate under his hands and his eyes heavy like he could stay here forever, is already too much. It’s something he didn’t even know he wanted until it was sprawled out in front of him, a disclaimer that seems to follow Gavin Free around and endear him to people in all his unfettered idiocy.

But he manages to hold him there until both their breaths have slowed down and his hard-on is manageable enough that he can hold off till home, where he can jerk off in the safety of his shower. The silence becomes a bit heavier, more intimate, with slowed breaths.

“You know you’re drunk right now, right? So anything you do or say isn’t exactly reliable.”

Ryan can’t help but point this out (something he probably should've pointed out when Gavin first kissed him, but couldn't bring himself to say), because yes he’s horny and Gavin’s willing, more than willing really, but he knows better, knows he can’t take advantage of Gavin like this.

Gavin seems to have calmed down a bit by now and shrugs, making the bottom of his shirt ride up and expose a soft sliver of skin.

“I guess I’ll just have to stay the night at yours then.” He gives a soppy grin. “To prove that I’m serious and all that.”

Ryan huffs out a laugh, both a little awed and bewildered that he’s actually in this situation, both of them pressed up against each other in the backseat of his car at 2:00 am. After a moment, Ryan shifts off of him and they both straighten out their clothes and get into the front seat.

The silence is loaded as they drive back to Ryan’s house, it being decided that since Gavin forgot his keys (“Y’know me, I’m a forgetful bloke,” Gavin says with a cheeky smile, and Ryan’s wondering, not for the first time, if this was planned, how long had he been this ignorant, how long has this really been coming), he’ll stay the night at Ryan’s.

-

In spite of a groping that’s weakened with exhaustion and pure stubbornness on Ryan’s end, he pushes Gavin through the front door and onto his couch. Ryan goes into his room to get a spare pillow and blanket, but turns when he hears Gavin stumbling behind him. Gavin plops down on his bed and proceeds to burrito roll his body into the sheets.

Ryan awkwardly shifts; his hard-on has pretty much subsided by now, but he’s unsure as to what he’s supposed to do (for all the talk of him being confused, he can’t say that he doesn’t want this).

“Come to bed, you can mess about tomorrow, when it’s not arse o‘clock in the morning.”

Gavin’s voice is muffled by the pillow, but Ryan still approaches the bed, unwrapping some of the blanket from Gavin’s limbs. He slides in next to him, his body tense and tired, but Gavin just turns around and wraps his arm across his chest, his head pillowed on Ryan’s shoulder.

_Right._ He thinks. _Tomorrow._ Then groans. _What the fuck is he supposed to tell the Ramsey’s?_


End file.
